1. Technical Field
The present subject matter relates to a reel for winding up a continuous flexible elongated member. More particularly, it relates to a reel that allows one end of the continuous flexible elongated member to be wound up on the reel while the other end is in a fixed position.
2. Description of Related Art
Reels for holding cables, hoses, or other flexible elongated members (FEM) are well known in the art. For applications where both ends of the FEM are loose, one end of the FEM may simply be rolled onto a rotating reel while the other end twists. For applications where one end of the FEM is fixed, such as being connected to a supply source such as electricity, water, or air, some reels are fixed, allowing the loose end of the FEM to be wrapped around the reel from one end, but this may create twisting of the FEM and a mechanism to wind up the FEM that may be much more complicated than a simple rotating reel.
One common solution to the problem of how to reel in a FEM if one end is fixed is to provide a rotating connection as a part of the reel. For electrical cables, a rotating connection, such as a slip-ring connection, may include a rotating ring for each conductor with a fixed wiper making contact with each ring. Such rotating connections may be less reliable than non-rotating connections and may not be suitable for use in some environments, such as explosive environments, due to the possibility of generating electrical arcs. For hoses, a rotating union may be used in many applications, but rotating unions may not be suitable for certain applications such as very high pressure applications or applications using highly corrosive fluids.